Delivering Unified User Experience By Automatically Teaming Up Information Appliances With General Purpose PC Through Internet

ABSTRACT

An embodiment of the present invention is a method for server side integration of communication devices and the general purpose PC of the same user through a computer network wherein no physical connection is required between the PC and the communication device. The user registers with PnC (phone and computer) server for subscribing to one or more PnC services such as drop-to-call, conference-call-dropping service, webpage sharing, caller kaleidoscope etc., via user interface of communications device and/or PC. Various features for subscribing and unsubscribing to services are provided along with authenticating the user using the name and the phone number of the user while registering with the server.

IBM® is a registered trademark of International Business MachinesCorporation, Armonk, N.Y., U.S.A. Other names used herein may beregistered trademarks, trademarks or product names of InternationalBusiness Machines Corporation or other companies.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method for server side integration ofcommunication devices and the general purpose PC of the same userthrough a computer network wherein no physical connection is requiredbetween the PC and the communication device. In particular, the userregisters with PnC (phone and computer) server for subscribing to one ormore PnC services such as drop-to-call, conference-call-droppingservice, webpage sharing, caller kaleidoscope etc., via user interfaceof communications device and/or PC. Various features for subscribing andunsubscribing to services are provided along with authenticating theuser using the name and the phone number of the user while registeringwith the server.

2. Description of Background

Information appliances are special purpose computers dedicated toparticular functions. For example, IP Phones are designed primarily forvoice communication, but with its computation power and a screen, IPPhones can also be used to query a directory, broadcast messages, orsurf the web.

There are efforts on making the general purpose PC more versatile andtake over information appliances, either virtually (through software) orphysically (through hardware). For example, many soft phones have beendeveloped and U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,214 describes physically incorporatinga phone into a laptop.

But despite these efforts, as technology advances, our office desks areequipped with even more powerful (regarding CPU, memory, storage,screen, and Internet connectivity) information appliances, usuallysitting near a general PC (desktop or laptop). This is becauseinformation appliances offer advantages a general PC can not provide,including high reliability, easy maintenance, and form factors targetedat special tasks.

Although an information appliance and general purpose PC are bothpresent at the same user's desk, they work by themselves, not aware ofthe other one's presence. This can be very inconvenient to the user. Forexample, to dial a number listed in an email, a file, or a webpage inthe general purpose PC, the user has to first memorize the number andthen manually punch them on the phone. In contrast, to team upinformation appliances and a general purpose PC as a group enablessmooth and seamless information flow and optimized resource allocationand function distribution.

Some prior art proposes to physically connect the PC and informationappliance like devices with cable, dock, or special connecters. Physicalconnectors may be machine or brand specific thus may not work on otherinformation appliances. To physically connect and/or disconnect the twomay be inconvenient to the user. Bluetooth can connect two deviceswirelessly, but it also requires a device discovery phase and makes noeffort on delivering a unified user experience over connected devices.

There is a long felt need for a system and method that delivers aunified user experience by automatically teaming up the informationappliances and the general purpose PC of the same user through anInternet-base approach that in part gives rise to the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantagesare provided through the provision of a method of combining a personalcomputer and an IP phone by way of local area network forming a deviceteam, the method comprising: connecting an IP phone to a local areanetwork; connecting a personal computer (PC) to the local area network;installing a PnC proxy software on the personal computer (PC), the PnCproxy software providing a plurality of user interface elementsrepresenting the IP phone to a user; processing registration,subscription, authentication, and a plurality of collaborative functionsbetween the IP phone and the personal computer (PC) on a server runninga PnC server software; and using the PnC server software to coordinatecommunications between, an IP phone server, the IP phone, and the PnCproxy software to effectuate the device team.

System and computer program products corresponding to theabove-summarized methods are also described and claimed herein.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the inventionare described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. For a better understanding of the invention with advantagesand features, refer to the description and to the drawings.

TECHNICAL EFFECTS

As a result of the summarized invention, technically we have achieved asolution which the user registers with PnC (phone and computer) serverfor subscribing to one or more PnC services such as drop-to-call,conference-call-dropping service, webpage sharing, caller kaleidoscopeetc., via user interface of a communications device and/or a PC.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter, which is regarded as the invention, is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, andadvantages of the invention are apparent from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of an IP phone and general purpose PC canform a PnC team talking advantage of both devices;

FIG. 2 illustrates one example of the computer and phone virtualintegration;

FIG. 3 illustrates one example of the PnC system view;

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of the graphical phone proxy on the PCdesktop;

FIG. 5 illustrates one example of caller kaleidoscope phone screenshot;

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of the caller kaleidoscope PC view;

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate one example of a method of combining personalcomputer and IP phone by way of local area network forming a deviceteam;

FIG. 8 illustrates one example of drop-to-dial function, which is one ofa plurality of collaborative functions;

FIGS. 9A-9B illustrate examples of web-page-sharing function, which isone of a plurality of collaborative functions; and

FIGS. 10A-10B illustrate examples of information-object-sharingfunction, which is one of a plurality of collaborative functions.

The detailed description explains the preferred embodiments of theinvention, together with advantages and features, by way of example withreference to the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning now to the drawings in greater detail, specialized computers asinformation appliances have been proposed as a solution to thecomplexity and usability problems of the PC. There are also counterarguments against such a proposition. In an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, instead of pitting information appliances and the PCagainst each other, embodiments implement a device teaming approach thattakes advantage of both types of devices: the familiar and highbandwidth user interface of the PC, and the task specific form factorsof an information appliance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, we designed and developed aPnC (phone n' computer) by teaming up an IP phone with a general-purposePC. Functions are distributed between the two devices according to theircharacteristics. Users can also transfer information objects between thetwo devices. PnC provides new and richer user experiences includingdrop-to-call, sharing visual information, and caller informationdisplay.

Information appliances, or computers designed with specialized functionsand form factors, have been advocated as a solution to the everincreasing complexity and user frustration of the PC by many. Such aproposition is not without opposition. While information appliances tendto be more reliable and simpler to use, at least for the most basicfunctions, the general purpose PC offers savings at many levels: highlycommoditized powerful hardware, space, and the time invested in learningone set of interaction skills common to all software applications.

A PC has three types of usability advantages over appliances. First, theGUI conventions and de facto standard operations help a user to rely onpast experience to operate a new software application. In contrast therehas been little standardization to performing operations on anappliance, particularly if the operation is beyond the most basic. Forexample recording a greeting message on different phones often requiresdifferent operation procedures. Second, PCs have powerful/high bandwidthinput (mouse and keyboard) and output (large display) devices that mostspecialized devices can't have. Third, information (e.g., a phone numbersend over email) related to a daily task is often stored in applicationson a PC that can be more easily shared among applications on the samemachine.

Referring to FIG. 1 there is illustrated one example of an IP phone anda general purpose PC forming a PnC team talking advantage of bothdevices. In an exemplary embodiment, the IP phone, rapidly deployed inmany corporations due to the cost savings in networking, is aparticularly interesting case of an information appliance.

First, due to its specialized purpose and narrow function, thereliability of an IP phone can be higher than a general purpose PC whichcan halt due to failures in the numerous programs, device drivers, andprocesses. The management and maintenance (e.g., software upgrade) of IPphones, especially in a large corporation, is also easier. In case of acrash, a special purpose computer reboots much faster than a PC with acomplex operating system to boot and many applications to launch.Second, because of its size and form, and IP phone offer betteraffordances for making and receiving calls. When the phone rings, onecan immediately pick up the handset of a hardware phone with a fixedlocation on the desk. In contrast responding to an alert from a PC ofteninvolves finding the right window, reading the message, and figuring outwhich control to push.

The drawbacks of an IP phone as an information appliance are also easilyobservable. Beyond making and receiving calls, it is often not obvioushow to perform operations such as making a multi-party conference call.Without a keyboard and a large display, inputting entries to the speeddial menu/phone book is difficult. It is not convenient to copy phonenumbers stored in a PC (email, web page, etc) to dial a call on thephone.

Fortunately an IP phone, as an information appliance and a generalpurpose PC are not necessarily mutually exclusive, especially since theycan be identified with the same user on the network and are physicallynear each other. By teaming up information appliances with PCs, one canapproach the best of both worlds: the special form, size and affordancesof an information appliance and the powerful I/O and GUI capabilities ofa general PC.

In an exemplary embodiment, a PnC (phone n' computer) system, as a teambetween a phone and a computer, provides stronger functionality andusability than each of the two devices alone. Some functions areparticularly suited for the phone to handle. For example, in addition tomaking and receiving voice calls, calendar notifications, alerts,announcements, and data to be tracked and monitored frequently areparticularly suited for the phone to display due to its spatialconstancy. In contrast, when a large amount of graphical or textinformation needs to be displayed, or complex actions that require alarge GUI and efficient input to operate, the task should go to the PC.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a function willappear either on the phone or on the PC by default in light of theseanalyses. Furthermore, we have developed user interfaces to support easymanual transfer of information and function between the two devices bythe user.

One design criteria for the PnC is elimination of direct physicalconnection between the PC and the phone and removing additional devicediscovery steps before users can use the system. Instead, a server-sideintegration approach is used where the server, as illustrated in FIG. 2,considers the PC and the Phone of a same user as a virtual PnC team. Dueto the increasing Internet connectivity, such an approach is easy,convenient, flexible, and cost effective.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is illustrated one example of the PnC systemview. In an exemplary embodiment this system, PnC is offered as a set offunctional software services.

In operation, the user first needs to register with the PnC Server via aweb interface and then subscribe to one or more PnC services, such asDrop-to-Call, Conference-call-dropping, Caller Kaleidoscope as detailedfurther below, Multicast for certain groups, etc. Alternative toindividual registration, PnC function can be also pre-installed andconfigured based on information in for example a corporate database.During registration, a PnC server verifies a user's name and phonenumber with IP Phone Manager Server, authenticates the user by means of,for example, an intranet password, initializes the user's phone, andlater delivers the subscribed services to the same phone. The PnC serverkeeps a list of available PnC services and a list of subscribers withtheir individual subscriptions. The Subscription Management Moduleallows a subscriber to modify, customize, or cancel his/hersubscriptions. For each PnC service, the complete service delivery isdefined as two parts: one delivered through the PC Interface to thesubscriber's computer and the other part through the phone interface tothe IP Phone. The Service Management Module manages and maintains theseservices to ensure their successful collaborative delivery to the PC andto the IP phone.

On the subscriber's PC, a small PnC proxy is needed to receive PnCservice delivery and collect user input through the PC's keyboard andmouse. On the IP phone side, services are delivered through the standardIP phone service platform provided by the IP Phone vendor.

User Interface from the PC to the Phone

There are many possible interface designs for manually transferringinformation objects from the PC to the phone. One uses a “toss-over”metaphor. An edge of the PC screen near the phone is dedicated asboundary between the two devices, any objects that are dragged over theedge goes to the phone. Another interface is a pop-up menu attached toeach information object that can be transferred to the phone by a rightmouse click and selection. An interface design called “graphical proxy”uses a dedicated window/icon as a virtual representation of the phone onthe PC screen. Any object dropped on the proxy will be interpreted andtransferred to the phone. One example of which is illustrated in FIG. 4.

User Interface from the Phone to the PC

There are also many possible interface designs for transferringinformation objects from the phone to the PC. One embodiment is a simplebutton-based “shovel” mechanism. If a user presses a button with thelabel “To-PC”, the object on the phone screen is transferred anddisplayed on the PC. Functions available in embodiments of the inventionare described below.

Drop-to-Call

The first service is Drop-to-Call, which enables the user to drag anddrop a phone number in a PC application onto the graphical phone proxy,causing the IP phone to automatically dial that number.

Drop-to-Call also allows the user to drop a directory entry onto thephone proxy. The phone will dial the number in the entry when there isno ambiguity. When multiple phone numbers (e.g., office number, mobilenumber, etc.) are contained in the entry, the user will be prompted toselect one of them through a pop-up menu.

Sharing Web Pages

During a phone call it is common to refer to a web site for sharing somevisual information. To achieve this today, one has to read the URL overthe phone, which is often tedious, send an email, or open an instanttext-messaging channel. A PnC function facilitates sharing web pages.During the call, either of the two parties with PnC installed can dragand drop a web page from the web browser of the PC onto the phone proxy,which causes an image of the page displayed on both phone screens. Ifinterested in more detail, the recipient can shovel the page from thephone display to the PC screen, which displays the page in a webbrowser. What is transferred in the last step is really the URL of theweb page, although the appearance is that the “page” is copied from onePC to another via two phones.

Caller Information Display—Kaleidoscope

When receiving a call, it is often useful to have some backgroundinformation about the caller on display. There is a small bit of suchinformation with the conventional caller ID (identification) in the formof a phone number and caller's name. A PnC service, referred to asKaleidoscope, provides a variety of information on the caller and somecollaboration and communication documents between the caller and thereceiver. With this service, when one receives a call, an enhancedversion of the commonly used Caller-ID is displayed on the phone screen,including: name, affiliation, email address, as well as shared calendarentry and shared activities. If interested in seeing more detailedinformation during the call, the receiver can shovel the information tothe PC and display a full size Kaleidoscope interface on the PC screen.Depending on availability, the Kaleidoscope displays the caller's homepage, corporate directory information and most recent email exchangedwith the caller.

The information displayed in Kaleidoscope is collected by the CallerKaleidoscope service, which once subscribed, starts to monitor theinbound calls of the subscriber's IP Phone. Whenever a call comes in,the service detects the calling party's caller ID (if it is available),the service will then collect various kinds of information about thecaller. This service is especially valuable in a corporate environmentwhere information such as the caller's location, department, manager,and position can be easily found in the corporate directory. If thecaller is from outside of the receiver's corporation, CallerKaleidoscope can search information on the web and present whatever isfound to the receiver. Referring to FIG. 5 there is illustrated oneexample of a screenshot of the caller kaleidoscope delivered to thereceiver's IP Phone. A full-sized version of Kaleidoscope on the PC isillustrated in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIGS. 7A-7B there is illustrated one example of a method ofcombining personal computer and IP phone by way of local area networkforming a device team. In this regard, FIGS. 7A-7B blocks 1002-1016further detail an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8 there is illustrated one example of drop-to-dialfunction, which is one of a plurality of collaborative functions. Inthis regard, FIG. 8 blocks 2002-2012 further details an exemplaryembodiment of the present inventions drop-to-call function.

Referring to FIGS. 9A-9B, there are illustrated examples of sharinginformation. FIGS. 9A-9B illustrate examples of web-page-sharingfunctions, which is one of a plurality of collaborative functions.

Referring to FIGS. 10A-10B, there are illustrated examples ofinformation-object-sharing function, which is one of a plurality ofcollaborative functions. FIGS. 10A-10B illustrate examples ofobject-sharing functions.

The capabilities of the present invention can be implemented insoftware, firmware, hardware or some combination thereof.

As one example, one or more aspects of the present invention can beincluded in an article of manufacture (e.g., one or more computerprogram products) having, for instance, computer usable media. The mediahas embodied therein, for instance, computer readable program code meansfor providing and facilitating the capabilities of the presentinvention. The article of manufacture can be included as a part of acomputer system or sold separately.

Additionally, at least one program storage device readable by a machine,tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable bythe machine to perform the capabilities of the present invention can beprovided.

The flow diagrams depicted herein are just examples. There may be manyvariations to these diagrams or the steps (or operations) describedtherein without departing from the spirit of the invention. Forinstance, the steps may be performed in a differing order, or steps maybe added, deleted or modified. All of these variations are considered apart of the claimed invention.

While the preferred embodiment to the invention has been described, itwill be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in thefuture, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall withinthe scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construedto maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.

1.-20. (canceled)
 21. A method of combining personal computer and IPphone by way of local area network forming a device team, said methodcomprising: connecting an IP phone to a local area network; connecting apersonal computer (PC) to said local area network; installing a PnCproxy software on said personal computer (PC), said PnC proxy softwareproviding a plurality of user interface elements representing said IPphone to a user; processing registration, subscription, authentication,and a plurality of collaborative functions between said IP phone andsaid personal computer (PC) on a second server, said second serverrunning a PnC server software; and using said PnC server software tocoordinate communications between, an IP phone server, said IP phone,and said PnC proxy software to effectuate said device team; using a webserver to verify said user identity, dynamically lookup an IP phonenumber associated with said user, download said PnC proxy software, andassociate said PnC proxy software with said user and said IP phonenumber; keeping valid a registration in case of network communicationinterruptions by way of said PnC proxy software communicating with saidPnC server software to revalidate said registration; subscribing to aservice, wherein said user having valid said registration can subscribeto said plurality of collaborative functions; wherein said plurality ofcollaborative functions includes a drop-to-dial function, aweb-page-sharing function, an information-sharing function, acall-related-info-discovery function, and a user defined function;wherein said drop-to-dial function further includes: initiating by saiduser of a telephone number to dial request, said telephone number todial request being generated by way of said personal computer (PC);sending said telephone number to dial request to said PnC serversoftware; said sending further comprising: verifying said user identity;looking up an IP phone number and corresponding authenticationassociated with said user; and returning a response; forming a requestof dialing based in part on said response; sending said request ofdialing to said IP phone server; verifying at said IP phone server saidrequest of dialing; and effectuating placing of a telephone call whereinsaid telephone number to dial request occurs when said user drags anddrops said telephone number onto said PnC proxy software desktop;wherein said web-page-sharing function includes: said user drags anddrops a web page onto the said PnC proxy software on said PC; andtriggering a web-page-sharing request to be sent from said PnC proxysoftware to said PnC server software, and from said PnC server softwareto said IP Phone server, wherein said IP Phone server instructs the saidwe page to be displayed on said IP Phone and the IP Phone of the partywho's in conversation with the said user; pushing a button on said IPphone of the said conversation party; and triggering a web-page-sharingrequest to be sent from said IP phone to said IP phone server, and fromsaid IP phone server to said PnC server software, wherein said PnCserver software instructs said personal computer (PC) through said PnCproxy software to open a web browser, said web-page-sharing requestfurther comprising a reference to a web page; and displaying on saidpersonal computer (PC) phone said web page; wherein saidinformation-sharing function includes: pushing a button on said IPphone; and triggering an information-sharing request to be sent fromsaid IP phone to said IP phone server, and from said IP phone server tosaid PnC server software, wherein said PnC server software instructssaid personal computer (PC) through said PnC proxy software to performsaid information-sharing request, said information-sharing requestfurther comprising a plurality of information; and displaying saidplurality of information as enriched, or as complimentary version ofinformation currently displayed on said IP phone.